'3rd intifada on its way' Terror leaders detail for WND 'massive new war'
against Israel
By Aaron Klein WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
February 14, 2006
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48811
With Hamas now in power, the long-ruling Fatah party and its "military wing"
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades forced into the opposition, and Israel announcing
it will soon withdraw from the West Bank, Palestinian terror leaders tell
WorldNetDaily recent events here are leading them to launch what they call a
third intifada - or violent confrontation - against Israel consisting of
suicide bombings, rocket attacks against Jewish communities and "a few new
surprises in our arsenal."
Some terror leaders, particularly from the Al Aqsa Brigades, whose
associated Fatah party scored poorly in last month's parliamentary
elections, say they are planning massive violence against Israeli civilians
mostly to revolt against the new Hamas-controlled Palestinian government.
"The new intifada is only a question of time and this will be the hardest
and the most dangerous one. It's just about timing until the order to blow
up a new wave of attacks will be given," Abu Nasser, a senior Al Aqsa
Brigades leader from the Balata refugee camp in northern Samaria told
WorldNetDaily in an interview.
Israel expecting new wave of terror
In the last 10 days Israeli forces intercepted 12 potential suicide bombers
and have stopped several dozen bombings the past few months, prompting fears
of "a new and worrisome wave of terror," said Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's
Shin Bet security services.
Hamas last month catapulted to power, winning Palestinian parliamentary
elections by a large margin and wresting control from Fatah. Israel has
warned the losing terror groups, particularly Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades, will
try to stymie efforts by Hamas to form a new government and sign a long-term
cease fire with the Jewish state. Also, members of the Islamic Jihad terror
group expressed disappointment their organization decided not to run in
elections, and have warned they will stop Hamas from imposing a truce.
Last week, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his Kadima party,
leading overwhelmingly in the polls for next month's Israeli elections, will
seek to "change Israel's borders" by withdrawing from most of the West Bank.
Some security officials told WND they fear terror groups will increase
attacks to claim credit for an Israeli West Bank pull-out.
After Israel announced its withdrawal from Gaza, which it carried out this
past summer, terror organizations, mostly led by Hamas and the Popular
Resistance Committees umbrella group, increased attacks in the area, at one
point firing an average of seven rockets per week at Gaza's Jewish
communities.
Diskin warned that Iran and Syria, currently under mounting international
pressure, are streaming large sums of money to Palestinian terror groups to
spur on local cells to carry out attacks in hopes of starting regional
violence.
The Palestinians launched their first intifada in 1987, which developed into
a well-organized violent rebellion orchestrated by Yasser Arafat's Palestine
Liberation Organization from its headquarters in Tunis. The so-called second
intifada was initiated in 2000 after Arafat rejected at Camp David an
Israeli offer of a Palestinian state on most of the West Bank, Gaza Strip
and sections of eastern Jerusalem. Some 993 Israelis and 3,781 Palestinians
have been killed so far. Many say the second intifada is still being waged.
The terror groups themselves say they are planning a new wave of violence
against Israelis, which some terror leaders are calling a "third intifada."
They detailed for WorldNetDaily how they will carry it out.
Al Aqsa Brigades: 'We'll kill Israelis to revolt against Hamas'
The Al Aqsa Brigades was formed in 2000 by then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat as
a military offshoot of the Fatah party. PA President Mahmoud Abbas signed a
cease fire with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last February, to which the
Brigades was party - but the terror group continued carrying out attacks.
Al Aqsa's Abu Nasser claims Israel put Hamas in power, and says his group is
preparing a new terror onslaught as a result.
"For the last 10 months we respected a cease fire expecting to see changes
in the lives of the Palestinian people, but we received from the Israeli
side more assassinations ... and above all we received the Hamas victory,
which seems to be the result of an Israeli and international conspiracy.
They believe that Hamas will give up easier our lands and rights. I think
that they are right, but we will not allow this to happen. We will fight and
we will blow up the new intifada," Abu Nasser told WND.
Sources close to Al Aqsa say Abu Nasser was involved in preparing the last
three suicide bombings in Israel, including the attack last month at a Tel
Aviv shwarma restaurant that injured more than 30 Israelis.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal over the weekend said his group might sign a
long-term cease fire with Israel, but told reporters he will not ask other
Palestinian group to stop attacks.
Abu Nasser told WND the Brigades will not respect any cease fire agreed to
by Hamas and will not halt attacks at Hamas' request.
"I am sure Hamas will start arresting us, but it will not be that easy [for
them]," said Abu Nasser. "We are preparing ourselves for the worst
scenario."
Asked if Al Aqsa's new terror war will be launched less out of aggression
toward Israel and more to revolt against Hamas, Abu Nasser replied, "This is
partially true. When we were in power, we were obliged to be more sensitive
and more obedient to the instructions and policies of our leadership. Now
that we lost the elections, why should we obey the leaders and just who do
we obey? The Hamas?
Continued Abu Nasser: "I am sure once [Hamas is] in power it is only that
power that is really important for them. They will be ready to give up
things that President Arafat refused to do. The proof for what I am saying
is that in the last days when the Israeli army killed more than 15
Palestinian activists, most of them from our Brigades, we did not hear the
voice of Hamas. Where are their resistance principles? Did they disappear
after the elections?"
Abu Nasser warned the so-called third intifada will be a combination of
suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Jewish towns.
"The Al Aqsa Brigades recently unified most of our cells and groups and we
will wait for the most suitable moment to launch our resistance acts. As for
the acts, there will be suicide attacks but there will be a massive use of
rockets. These rockets will be launched against Israeli settlements in the
West Bank, but also if needed against Israeli cities inside the green line."
Rocket war against Israel
Since Israel's evacuation of the Gaza Strip this past August, security
officials have been warning that the Palestinian terror groups transferred
their rocket capabilities to the West Bank, which is within firing range of
Israel's international airport and many major Israeli cities, including
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israel has confirmed that at least two rockets have been fired in the West
Bank so far from the northern Samaria town of Jenin. There is information
terror groups in the West Bank, particularly the Al Aqsa Brigades and
Islamic Jihad, will step up attacks against the area's Jewish communities
ahead of any Israeli withdrawal from the area.
WorldNetDaily caught up with Abu Oudai, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader
responsible for coordinating the organization's rocket network in the West
Bank. He warned that his organization is preparing a rocket war against
Israel:
"We have launched [several] times and with the help of Allah we will launch
these rockets regularly. There will be no calm, no cease fire until the
occupation leaves our land. I don't need to tell you that the aerial
distance from Jenin to Netanya, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities is not
big without telling you what are all our plans concerning other parts of the
West Bank."
Oudai said his organization and other terror groups have stockpiled
Palestinian rockets, including Qassams, which can travel about 2 miles, more
primitive Jenin-1 and Jenin-2s, and Arafat-1 and Arafat-2 rockets, some of
which can reportedly travel up to 3 miles. He claimed his group is
developing a new rocket that will put all of Israel's major cities within
firing range.
"The very near future will prove their capacity to kill and destroy and to
beat the Israelis in the West Bank exactly like we did with these rockets in
the Gaza Strip," Oudai said.
Oudai pocked fun at Israel's West Bank security barrier, which has been
credited with making it more difficult for Palestinian groups to carry out
suicide bombings.
"[The Israelis] have built a huge wall on which [it] spent billions of
dollars but still we are hitting Israel with our rockets and reaching every
target we want. This wall will not defend [Israel] from our rockets which
have defeated the wall and all the security measures taken to prevent our
attacks," Oudai boasted.
Israeli military leaders previously warned that the Jewish state will launch
an "unprecedented" military campaign against any rocket firing from the West
Bank.
The Israeli Defense Forces did not initiate any large-scale anti-rocket
operation in response to the rockets launched from Jenin. It has been
largely unable to stop the rockets regularly fired from Gaza into nearby
Israeli Negev towns.
The Israeli army regularly responds to Qassam firings from Gaza with
surgical missile strikes and artillery fire at areas it says are used to
launch rockets. In
December, Israel set up a buffer zone in sections of Gaza occasionally used
to fire rockets into nearby Israeli Negev communities, but the Palestinian
terrorists shifted their launching sites to other areas and have continued
the attacks.
Said Oudai: "Israel already has used all its tools. Tanks, aircrafts,
assassinations and everything it could use. But we are still here and still
fighting. We do not get excited from the Israeli threats. What can be this
unprecedented reaction? They have already tried everything."
In Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella organization of
several Palestinian terror groups, has taken credit for many of the rockets
launched from the area since 2000.
Abu Abir, spokesman for the Committees, boasted his group transported
missiles to the West Bank.
"If there is need, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and everywhere in Israel can become
our target. Israelis must also know that we have already transferred the
knowledge and the technology of producing rockets to the West Bank," Abu
Abir told WorldNetDaily.
Abu Abir said his group has "improved [our] capacities in shooting these
rockets. Even the Israeli officers agreed that the improvement is at all
levels, [including] the distance that these rockets can reach, the capacity
of explosives and their accuracy. In the last five years, there is no doubt
that our abilities have improved."
Islamic Jihad: 'The Israelis should wait for our surprises'
Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for every suicide bombing against
Israel since last February's cease fire, including bombings in a Tel Aviv
disco and restaurant and a Netanya shopping mall, among others. Al Aqsa
leaders told WorldNetDaily they aided the recent bombings. Islamic Jihad
also says it fired most of the rockets launched from the Gaza Strip since
Israel's August withdrawal.
Israel says Islamic Jihad is directly backed by Iran and Syria. Jihad chief
Ramadan Shallah operates openly from Damascus and regularly visits Tehran.
Security sources say Hezbollah headquarters in Damascus and Beirut have
ordered Islamic Jihad to carry out attacks in hopes of drawing Israel into a
protracted
military conflict.
Israel's Diskin warned that Iran and Syria are looking to use Islamic Jihad
in part to distract mounting international pressure against their respective
countries.
Iran is under fire for its alleged nuclear ambitions, and the international
community led by the United States has threatened to bring Syria to the
United Nations Security Council for allegedly interfering in the
investigation into the assassination last year of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Raqif Hariri, for which Syria has been widely blamed.
WorldNetDaily spoke with Islamic Jihad's northern West Bank leader Abu
Khalil, who warned his terror group is planning a terror onslaught to chase
Israel from the West Bank and eventually from Jerusalem.
"We will launch very soon very painful attacks that will shake the enemy. In
fact, this is more the continuation of the (second) intifada because we
never said that the intifada has ended. We will never give calm and security
to the enemy. This will happen only when Israel will run away from Jerusalem
and the West Bank like it did in Gaza," Abu Khalil said.
Abu Khalil, like leaders from the Al Aqsa Brigades, said his group will not
respect a Hamas request to halt attacks against Israel.
"I don't believe the brothers in Hamas will ask us to stop. In any case, our
only commitment is towards Allah, and the blood of our people and brothers
and towards our political leadership," Abu Khalil told WND.
"Therefore we will not give up the right to defend ourselves and to launch
all kinds of attacks against Israel everywhere there is an Israeli soldier
or any Israeli goal in the West Bank and 1948 occupied Palestine [the entire
state of Israel]."
Asked which weapons will be emphasized during Islamic Jihad's next wave of
terror attacks, Abu Khalil replied, "I should not answer this question for
operational reasons. But we proved that we use everything Allah enables us
to achieve and to use - suicide attacks, rockets and more surprises. The
Israelis should wait for interesting surprises."
Hamas: 'Our goal is to rebuild Palestinian society'
Hamas, a terror group responsible for more than 60 suicide bombings, last
month won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament and is currently
attempting to form a governing coalition.
Hamas leaders claim they will focus on rebuilding Palestinian society, and
have stated they may sign a long term cease fire agreement with Israel.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas chief in Gaza, told WorldNetDaily his group will
"rebuild the Palestinian life shattered by corruption in the Gaza Strip and
the West Bank. This is our goal now. To make a better life for the
Palestinians."
In a widely circulated interview, al-Zahar even recently claimed to
WorldNetDaily that Hamas might negotiate with Israel using a third party.
He said his group will likely agree to a long-term cease fire with the
Jewish state, but said it will not recognize Israel or renounce its charter,
which calls for the destruction of Israel by "assaulting and killing."
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal this weekend said his group will not stop other
Palestinian organizations from carrying out attacks against Israel.
Still, some analysts contend Hamas might use its power to halt some
anti-Israel violence in hopes of receiving financial aide from international
donors.
But the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center in Gaza warned that after Israel's Gaza
withdrawal Hamas attacks will be focused on West Bank Jewish communities.
The Center is reportedly closely aligned with Hamas and, according to
Israeli security officials, it espouses Hamas ideology:
"[Hamas will be] transporting warfare technologies such as mortars and
rockets from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. These will provide an easy way
to bombard Israeli populated areas adjacent to the security fence, and the
fence, which is currently under construction, will therefore become
useless," stated a recent publication by the Research Center, according to a
translation by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's
Center for Special Studies.
Al-Mustaqbal stated Israel's Gaza withdrawal provided Hamas and other terror
groups with a staging ground from which to launch attacks and to transport
rockets to West Bank communities. It said the Gaza withdrawal proves Israel
will vacate other areas in response to repeated attacks.
PFLP: Terror forced Israel out of Gaza, will get us rest of Jewish state
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has carried out recent
West Bank shooting attacks and rocket firings from the Gaza Strip. The
group's leader, Ahmad Saadat, is in a Palestinian jail in Jericho for
allegedly planning the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavaam
Zeevi in October 2001.
Israeli security officials say the PFLP has scaled back its participation in
attacks the past few months, but Abu Hani, a leader of the PLFP's "armed
wing," the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, told WorldNetDaily his group used the
time earned from last year's cease fire to build its arsenal in preparation
for a third intifada.
"The last months were used for a rest in order to rehabilitate forces. The
Palestinian people preserves its right to fight against Israel," Abu Hani
said.
He told WorldNetDaily the PFLP is "forced" to launch a new terror war.
"It is not that we prepare an intifada. It is the reality on the ground that
dictates a new intifada. There is the fence, there is the building in the
Jewish settlements, the daily Israeli penetration into Palestinian cities,
villages and camps and of course the killing of our comrades and brothers,"
Abu Hani says.
Israel routinely conducts anti-terror military raids in the West Bank when
it receives intelligence warning of new attacks. The Israeli Air Force fires
at targets in Gaza in attempts to halt Palestinian groups from launching
rockets at nearby Jewish communities.
Abu Hani warned, "The current situation does not leave to the Palestinians
many choices but to fight with all the tools we have or can have. The Gaza
withdrawal
proves unfortunately that force, attacks and rockets is the only language
and attitude that the Israelis understand. They do not withdraw unless they
are hit by the Palestinian resistance. So if there is a way that has already
obliged the Israelis to withdraw, why not to use it again?"
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